


Picking Up the Pieces

by jordands11



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-02 23:29:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6587515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordands11/pseuds/jordands11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the offseason, Drew Stubbs' elementary-school-aged son is in a school shooting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Picking Up the Pieces

# Picking Up the Pieces

## Chapter 1

Like any other Friday, Daniel Rollins dropped his youngest son, Josh, off at Drew Stubbs’ house at 8:15 in the morning. The eight-year-old Josh was best friends with Drew’s seven-year-old son, Conner. They were in the same class in the second grade at Stoney Brook Elementary in Texarkana, Texas. The two families—Dan and his wife Sarah, with their two boys Eli and Josh, and then Drew and Conner—had become close since Josh and Conner had become friends in kindergarten. Conner and Josh were in Cub Scouts together and played basketball on the same team. Because of Dan’s work schedule, Drew always took both boys to school on Friday’s. Josh hastily said goodbye to his dad and ran up to Drew’s porch. Josh was at the Stubbs’ home so often that he didn’t even bother knocking. Instead, he let himself in. “Good morning!” he called out as a general greeting and then, lugging his backpack and hockey gear, sat down in the living room by the drawers of Legos.

Drew was in the kitchen. “Good morning, Josh! Have you had breakfast?”

“Yeah, I ate at home.” He always ate at home but Drew always asked. Soon Conner bounded down the stairs. The two played Lego together until Drew hustled them out the door and into the car. He drove to the school, unable to get a word in between the boys’ chatter. Like any other Friday, they were excited about the weekend, the high school football game that night, about the hockey tournament Josh had on Saturday, about the upcoming school science fair and their basketball game against their rivals next week. Drew pulled the car up in front of the school and watched them scramble out. It was a typical December day, not warm, but not too cold. Josh was wearing jeans and a red jacket. Conner, basketball shorts and a hoodie.

“Have a good day guys, see you tonight. Love you, Conner.” Drew tried to wrangle Conner into a hug but he ducked out of it, running up the sidewalk with Josh. “Bye, Dad, love you too!” he yelled over his shoulder. All of this was the same, every Friday for over a year, ever since Dan’s work schedule had changed.

After he dropped off the boys, Drew went to the gym, then to the store. As he was pulling into the parking lot at the store he noticed the sirens. There were lots of them. He watched as what seemed like every emergency vehicle in Texarkana tore down the main street. That’s weird, he thought. He tried to shake off a feeling of uneasiness as he walked into the store.

  


At the school, Miss Kelton was starting the spelling lesson. Conner and Josh liked spelling because they got to sit next to each other. They sat near the front. Conner’s pencil broke and he asked if he could sharpen it. The pencil sharpener was in the back by the door on a little counter. Miss Kelton said yes and Conner walked to the back. Suddenly he heard a weird sound. It sounded like glass breaking, like when he had accidentally dropped a plate when he was helping his dad with the dishes and it had shattered everywhere. Then another weird noise. A banging noise. BANG. BANG. BANG. Sharp and clear and loud. Then other sounds in the hallway. Footsteps and voices and yelling. It wasn’t right outside their door but it was in the hall. Conner stood still in front of the counter with the pencil sharpener but he didn’t sharpen his pencil. Miss Kelton yelled, her voice sounding serious and scary in a way that it never had before. “Everyone get under your desks! Right now!” Conner didn’t know what to do. His desk was all the way at the front of the room, by Josh. He wasn’t at his desk. Should he run to it? Or just stay put? He didn’t know, so he froze, just standing there like everything was okay and he was about to sharpen his pencil. There were more noises from the hallway and they were closer now. One time he watched his dad and his dad’s friend Jason play a video game where you were in the army and had to shoot people and that’s what it sounded like in the hallway. But this wasn’t a video game. Miss Kelton was running to the door to close it all the way shut but right as she got to the door a man came in and pushed it open like Miss Kelton wasn’t even there. There were more bangs and Miss Kelton fell down and didn’t move anymore. Conner sat down where he was. He wanted to run and hide under a desk but he was too scared. The man had a big gun and the gun made the banging noise again and his friend Brayden fell down and other people were screaming. Wait, maybe he, Conner, was screaming. He wasn’t sure anymore. Suddenly something grabbed his arm. Josh. He had crawled back to Conner from his desk. “Come on,” he whispered. The man was shooting the gun but with Josh Conner didn’t feel so scared. They started crawling back towards their desks. But suddenly Josh made a noise like a cat when it gets upset and lay still. Conner froze. Josh looked up at Conner. They weren’t in a good place. They were in the open. “Keep going!” Josh told Conner. He was crying because it hurt but he had been hurt before playing hockey so being hurt didn’t scare him.

Conner kept hearing the bangs but he ignored them. “No, I’m staying with you!” he said. He sat down next to Josh and grabbed his arm. There was a lot of blood and it scared Conner but he stayed there next to Josh. Then his right arm felt funny, like it had just been ripped off. He looked but it was still there. But there was blood coming through his shirt. He stared at it. Then it started hurting. First a little and then a lot. He looked at Josh laying there and he looked at his shoulder where the blood was and he kept hearing the screams and the bangs but they sounded like they were from far away. I am going to die, he thought. I am going to die and Josh is going to die and if we are both going to die then we should die together. His left arm didn’t hurt so he grabbed Josh’s hand and he squeezed it and he lay down because it hurt too much to sit up. It was hard to think but he could feel Josh breathing and he tried to talk. “Don’t be afraid, Josh,” he whispered. Josh muttered an answer. It sounded weird, like each word was one sentence. “I’m. Not. Afraid. Conner.” Conner kept squeezing Josh’s hand and Josh was squeezing Conner’s hand and then he wasn’t anymore. Conner was still squeezing Josh’s hand but Josh wasn’t squeezing back. But he could feel him breathing. He couldn’t hear anything anymore and he thought that must be what happens when you die. He could feel Josh breathing and then he couldn’t. He opened his eyes and looked at Josh and he wasn’t breathing and Conner buried his head into Josh’s shoulder and still held his hand. His arm hurt and it was taking too long and he wanted to be where Josh was. His arm hurt and then it didn’t. Then, nothing. 

  


Drew got home from the store around 10:30. He was putting the groceries away when his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, but it was a local area code. He picked up. “Hello?”

“Hi, this is Dana Erickson, the secretary from Stoney Brook Elementary, I’m calling for Drew Stubbs.”

Drew was confused for a moment. The office number for Stoney Brook was in his phone. Dana had called him plenty of times before. His phone should have showed it was the school. “Hi, Dana, this is Drew,” he said distractedly. Was Conner sick? He hadn’t seemed sick this morning.

“Drew, there’s been a security incident at the school this morning,” Dana said calmly. “We are closing for the day and we are having parents pick up their children from the middle school, at the gymnasium entrance.”

“What do you mean, a security incident?” Drew blurted out. At least one mystery was solved. If Dana was calling from the middle school across the street, that would explain why his phone didn’t recognize the number.

“We are not releasing any other details at this time,” she said. Her voice was still calm, but firm. Drew knew he wouldn’t get any other details out of her. “We just need you to come and pick up your son.”

“Alright, sure,” Drew said. “I’m on my way.”

He started the familiar drive towards Stoney Brook and he could still hear sirens in the distance. He remembered all the police cars he had seen earlier and his heart skipped a beat. Those couldn’t have been going to the school, could they have? He sped up, almost instinctively. He couldn’t shake off the fear that gripped him.

Stoney Brook Middle School was right across the street from the elementary building. When Drew approached, his heart stopped. There were police cars and ambulances everywhere. Local police and state police. The elementary school entrance was blocked off and guarded by police. Two more police waved his car toward the gymnasium parking lot for the middle school. Drew felt like they were unnecessary. He couldn’t have pulled in anywhere else if he had wanted to.

He parked and got out and his ears were ringing. What _happened_ here? he wondered. This was not just an “incident”. Nothing was more clear than that. He walked into the entrance to the gym hallway, his head spinning. He was greeted by two more police officers, sitting at a little table where the school usually handed out programs for basketball games. “Your name?” one of them asked. Drew gave it. He wanted desperately to ask what had happened but the officers were all business. “Your student’s name and grade?”

“Conner Stubbs, he’s a second grader. Can you please tell me what’s happened?” He said it in one breath, trying to get in his question and afraid they would cut him off.

“There’s been a shooting at the elementary school,” the first officer explained. His voice was calm, but in a forced, controlled way. “The students were evacuated here to the gym. My partner, Officer Kovak, will go and retrieve your child and bring him out to you.” He directed Drew to sit on a nearby bench to wait. The second officer, Officer Kovak, disappeared into the gym. A few minutes passed. Drew anxiously played with his phone. He tapped his foot. His throat was dry. Why was he feeling so scared? What kind of shooting? Were people hurt? Killed? Why was this taking so long? He was getting more afraid by the second.

Another set of parents came in and the officer at the desk went through the routine again. This family named two kids, a sixth grader and a third grader. Drew didn’t know them. The middle school must be closing too, he realized. The officer at the desk sent a third officer, one standing by the door that Drew hadn’t noticed before, to go and “retrieve” their children. The parents listened to the explanation of the officer at the desk and sat down at a bench across from Drew. They too, looked worried. They glanced at Drew but none of them spoke to each other. Presently, the third officer came back with the two kids, an older boy and a girl a year or so older than Conner.

“Mommy!” she yelled, running to her parents. She was embraced along with her brother and they walked out together, leaving Drew still sitting there on the bench. He swallowed nervously. His throat was really dry. His mind raced. He wanted to ask the officer at the desk a thousand questions but he couldn’t get one to stay in his mind long enough to say it out loud. Where was Conner? Why was it taking this long?

Finally, the gym door opened and Officer Kovak came back out. Alone. He approached Drew on the bench. “Let’s go into this office and talk,” he suggested kindly. He gestured toward the office of the athletic director just down the hall. Drew found himself resisting. He did not want to do that. If Officer Kovak had anything to tell him, he could say it right here. He just did not want to go into that office. But the officer pulled Drew to his feet and guided him gently towards the door. Drew’s brain was screaming but he couldn’t say anything so he went in. Officer Kovak told Drew to sit down and Drew once again didn’t want to and Officer Kovak once again grabbed Drew’s arm and forced him into the chair in front of the desk. Officer Kovak started talking but Drew could barely hear him. His thoughts were too loud.

“Your son Conner was not among the other second graders. I checked with the other classes, but none of them had seen him. At this point, your son is labeled as ‘missing.’ There are several options at this point,” he continued. Drew nodded absently. The officer’s words were bouncing off of him. He was numb. “It is possible that Conner was injured during the shooting and transported to the hospital. Six injured students were taken to Wadley Regional Medical Center. You will have to go there to find out if your son was among them.”

Drew nodded, dazed. He knew where Wadley was, right downtown. He thanked Officer Kovak and started up, his only thought now to get to Wadley and find Conner. But another thought occurred to him. “What if—what if he’s not there?” Drew asked.

Officer Kovak hesitated. Drew suddenly wished he hadn’t asked the question. He swallowed hard as Officer Kovak gently said, “Let’s just take this one step at a time, now. The people at Wadley will help you with what’s next.”

Drew nodded shakily. He thanked him again and stumbled out to his car. He started it and left, heading towards Wadley Medical Center, on autopilot as his mind raced and his heart pounded. He desperately hoped Conner was okay, but he desperately wanted to know where he was, even if it meant he was hurt. 

Drew followed Officer Kovak’s instructions when he got to Wadley, going in the Emergency Room entrance and giving his name to the nurse on duty in the waiting room. He said he was a parent of a student from Stoney Brook. She immediately took him back. Four of the six injured students were girls. Two of them had already been identified and were with their parents. There was only one boy in a room in the ER, and he was not Conner. There were six injured students according to Officer Kovak, but only five were here. But the nurse, Brenda, had an answer to that. “One other boy was brought in, but his condition was critical. He had been shot in the right shoulder. He was rushed immediately into surgery, and he’s still there now. He might be for a while. It’s possible that the boy in surgery is your son.” Of course, she didn’t know for sure. There was no way of identifying any of the students who had been rushed to Wadley by ambulance immediately after the shooting.

Brenda walked with Drew to the pediatric surgery waiting room. She explained that once the boy was in the recovery area Drew could go and see if he was Conner. She explained that another nurse, Bridget, would get him when it was time. Neither Brenda nor Bridget knew how much longer it would be. Brenda went back to the ER. Bridget kindly asked Drew if he needed anything and when he said he didn’t she left him alone.

Drew felt strange just sitting. He wanted to be doing something. He didn’t want to just sit here waiting for a boy who may or may not be his son. He called his parents. They were out of town, but he shakily explained the situation. Immediately, they changed their plans. They loved their only grandchild, and they were worried about Drew waiting in the hospital by himself. “We’ll try to get home by this evening,” his dad, Rick, promised. “We’ll start heading that way now.”

When Drew hung up he felt like the silence was deafening. It wasn’t really silent, of course. Phones were ringing and other people were in the waiting room and there was a general hum of noise. But none of it concerned Drew and he was keenly aware of how alone and afraid he was. He wasn’t sure he could stand sitting here by himself, waiting for someone who might not even be Conner. The news was on a TV above Drew’s head and he realized they were talking about the shooting. The people on the news were talking just as they would about any other tragedy, but this wasn’t any other tragedy because that was his son’s school in the background and he was sitting in a hospital and he didn’t know where his son was. He wished he could wake up and it would still be Friday morning and Conner was safely playing with Legos in his living room. The people on the news were saying that there were six injured and twenty-six dead. Drew’s skin crawled. This boy in surgery was the sixth injured.

Bridget checked on him again. Drew asked, almost without wanting to, what if the boy in surgery wasn’t his son. Bridget explained, as gently as she could, that there were no other injured students, and that if Conner wasn’t here they would talk together with a police officer about the next step. His throat was incredibly dry. Bridget walked away and Drew realized he should have asked her for some water.

His phone rang. He answered it without thinking. “Drew, it’s Terry,” said the voice of his manager, Terry Francona. Terry was in Tucson, but he had seen the news. He knew where Conner went to school and he was worried. “Is Conner okay?”

Drew was almost relieved Terry had seen the news and that he didn’t have to explain anything about the shooting. “I…I don’t know,” he said.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I don’t know. He wasn’t at the school when I went there to get him. They told me that he could have been hurt and taken to the hospital. I’m there now, and I’m waiting for a boy to get out of surgery that might be him.”

“But what if it’s not him?” Terry was trying to wrap his mind around the situation.

Drew hesitated. “It…it has to be him. It has to be,” he got out. He could barely speak. “If it’s not, then, then…” he couldn’t finish his sentence but Terry didn’t make him.

“Drew, are you by yourself?” he asked him.

“Yeah. My folks are out of town.”

“Do any of the guys live near you?” They tried to determine if anyone did, but as far as Drew knew, he was the only Cleveland Indian who lived in Texas during the winter. But Terry had an idea. “Look, I’m bad at geography. How close are you to Dallas?”

“Like two and a half hours,” Drew said.

“David Murphy lives there,” Terry told him. The Indians had just signed David Murphy, the ex-Rangers outfielder, less than a month ago. Drew had never met him. “I know you don’t know him, but I could put him in contact with you. Then you’d at least have someone nearby even if he can’t come over there today.”

It made no difference to Drew. He’d meet David come spring anyways. “Yeah, sure,” he muttered.

“I’ll call him and give him your phone number,” Terry said. Drew agreed and they hung up. His world was plunged back into silence. It was a little after noon.

Presently, his phone rang again. He didn’t recognize the number but he guessed it was probably David. It was. They talked for a few minutes. David wanted to know about Conner, about his age and grade and how he was doing in school. His oldest daughter, Madison, was a year younger than Conner. Drew felt a little calmer.

“Would you like me to drive over there?” David asked him. “I could sit with you while you wait.”

Drew appreciated the offer, but he declined it. “No, that’s okay, David. I wouldn’t want you to drive all the way here and then have the surgery be done a few minutes after that or something. They don’t know how much longer it’ll be.”

“Alright. Just let me know if you change your mind or if you need anything else. And let me know when you find out.”

Drew thanked him and they hung up. He was feeling a little better. Just talking had helped. Maybe it won’t be much longer, he thought.

Across the waiting room, he noticed the parents of one of Conner’s friends, Brayden. Brayden played on Conner’s basketball team. Drew didn’t think anything of it at first, but then the sickening realization hit him. There was only one boy from Stoney Brook in surgery. Brayden’s parents were doing the same thing he was. They were both waiting for the same boy. The boy in surgery was either Conner, or Brayden. He couldn’t be both. Drew felt dizzy. Every moment that he spent hoping this boy was his son meant by implication that he was hoping the boy wasn’t Brayden. And if it wasn’t Brayden then Brayden was dead. Which meant he was hoping Brayden was dead. Which he would never want to hope for at all.

He pressed his head into his hands. If Conner was alive then Brayden was dead. If Brayden was alive then Conner was dead. If Conner was dead he wasn’t sure he could take it, but how could he wish for Conner to be alive if it meant he was wishing his worst nightmare onto someone else? He was shivering. He got up and walked shakily down the hall to the bathroom and threw up. When he returned to his seat he called David back without thinking. They had just hung up less than ten minutes ago.

“Hey,” David said. He didn’t sound annoyed at all that Drew was calling back so soon.

“David,” Drew said. He swallowed audibly. “Do you think…if it’s not too much trouble…that you could drive out here?” He tried to figure out how to explain how he felt, but David answered immediately so he didn’t have to.

“Yeah, I’ll leave right now,” he said.

Drew breathed. He didn’t have words for how much he appreciated it. “Thank you,” he said finally.

David nodded into the phone. “It’s not a problem. I should be there between 2:30 and 3:00. Just keep me posted.”

Drew nodded and thanked him again and they hung up. Drew ran his hand over his eyes and sat there, shivering. He couldn’t look at Brayden’s parents, though they weren’t paying any attention to him either. He walked back to the bathroom and threw up again. He returned to his spot and sat down and waited. Now he was waiting on two things. The boy who was maybe Conner to be done with surgery and David to get here. He couldn’t decide which he wanted to happen first, but it was easier to think about David than Conner so he tried to focus on waiting for David. Even so, he was cold and shaky and he had to keep getting up because his stomach was upset. He fiddled with his phone and tried to will the hours along. 

David arrived before the surgery was done. He texted Drew and met him in the waiting room. Drew started to stand up to greet him, but David stopped him. “No, don’t get up, it’s fine,” David said, sitting down next to him. David looked at him. “Are you cold?”

Drew nodded. “Yeah,” he admitted. David handed Drew his own sweatshirt. It was a Rangers shirt.

“I don’t have an Indians one yet,” David said, as an apology. Drew didn’t really care. He just put it on.

Drew was afraid he was going to get sick again. The sweatshirt helped, but he was still cold and he didn’t feel well at all. He muttered to David that he’d be right back and walked to the bathroom again.

When he came back, David looked at him, concerned. “You alright?”

“Not really,” Drew said. He swallowed nervously.

“Do you want some water?”

Drew just nodded, and David got up and asked a nearby nurse. She brought some and Drew sipped it carefully. He was kind of relieved that David was taking charge. He felt numb and he didn’t want to think anymore.

Drew and David sat together for a while. David talked with Drew a little, trying to keep Drew’s mind off the situation. Drew appreciated the conversation. They talked about the team and the upcoming season and about Conner and about David’s family. Anything to drown out the news about the school shooting and to stop Drew from thinking about Conner maybe being in surgery and Brayden’s parents across the waiting room. Drew’s stomach settled down and he wasn’t so cold.

Finally, Bridget approached them. “Drew, he’s done with surgery and in recovery now. He’s asleep, but you can go back and see him and find out if he is your son.”

Almost immediately, he was nauseous again, but he fought it back. He stood up, wobbling slightly.

“Do you want me to go with you, or wait here?” David asked. Now that he had driven all the way out here, David was prepared to see this through.

“You can come,” Drew said.

They walked back with Bridget. None of them spoke.

Bridget led them into the recovery room. Drew hesitated. He felt choked by fear. David put a hand on Drew’s back. Drew made himself walk over to where Bridget was standing by a little bed. David followed him.

Asleep in the bed was a little boy with short, neatly cut brown hair. He was breathing evenly.

Drew felt his knees buckle. David and Bridget grabbed him. Standing there, being held up by David and the nurse, all he could do was nod. “Yes,” he breathed, “that’s Conner.”


End file.
